Viva Las Vegas

Once we arrived in Vegas, things began to look up. The hostel was quite nice, with a pool (outdoor so closed), a hot tub, laundry, kitchen, internet, and just down the street from the Freemont Experience. It was sunny and warm, and we were so DAMN glad to see the end of the snow, at least for a while. We went down and checked out the Freemont Experience that night, and the huge screen over the street was amazing - we watched a video on it, which was cool. We tried some gambling, had a prime rib dinner, and got our photos taken with the Chippendales boys, who smelled and felt VERY NICE...

Day 2 in Vegas, we went down to check out the Vegas Strip, starting at the MGM Grand, where we had a look at the lion enclosure in the casino, which was pretty cool. The enclosure is temperature controlled and sound proofed. The lions are rotated out so no one lion spends much time in the enclosure. The strip was full of casinos (of course), restaurants, gift shops, tourists, and plenty of guys and gals handing out flyers for hookers...we checked out Madame Tusseaud's Wax Museum, which was very cool. We posed with tons of stars, and had most of the museum to ourselves that day. We also went to M & M World, Coca-Cola World, and several other themed buildings/areas.

That night we went out for a buffet at Treasure Island, which was quite good, but I wish I had a larger appetite to make it worth my while, heh heh...it was also a lengthy lineup to get in. We rode the "Deuce" which is a double decker bus that runs up and down the strip all day and night.

Day 3 in Vegas was Christmas Day, and we went to the Stratosphere for a tour and a ride on the XScream, which was a quick but thrilling ride that teeters out over the edge of the tower. Then we were off to check out more of the strip. We left at one point to go see a large aquarium off the strip, but it took forever to get just to the bus terminal, so turned around and went back to the strip as we had tickets for a show that night. This was the highlight of my trip - we saw Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil...it was AWESOME! I highly recommend it, however it is wrapping up this month. I bought lots of souvenirs, and took photos in the amazing theme area next to the theatre. After the show we were able to catch the fountain show at the Bellagio, and the Volcano show at the Mirage.